Some Mpls. School Employees Keep Jobs Despite Repeated Problems

Updated: 01/23/2013 7:40 AM KSTP.com
By: Jay Kolls

We found some recently disciplined Minneapolis Public School employees, with repeated work problems, keep their jobs.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS obtained the records of ten MPS employees who were disciplined by the School Board two months ago. We found one school bus driver had a troubled work history over the past 15 years with his most recent incident a case of road rage while driving his school bus. His punishment was a 10-day suspension without pay.

The records we obtained also show another bus driver was also recently in a road rage incident while driving his school bus and he received a 3-day suspension without pay. And another bus driver failed a random drug test a few months ago and was suspended five days without pay. Yet another food service MPS employee had a continual attendance problem dating back to 2007 and was only suspended three days without pay. Of the ten disciplined employees in November, only one was terminated. The rest received suspensions and most of the employees had a history of repeated problems on the job, yet ninety-percent of the recent disciplined workers kept their jobs.

Minneapolis Public Schools declined to comment on camera, but issued a statement that says, in part, "there is due process and the severity of the punishment increases each time an employee violates District policies and it can lead to termination." MPS says its goal is to correct the behavior and have an effective employee.